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00:00 Good afternoon, Ray.
00:01 Good afternoon.
00:01 How are you today?
00:03 I'm very well. How are you?
00:04 I'm absolutely fine. It's nice to be out, isn't it?
00:06 Yeah, it's nice to be out. Yes.
00:08 Well, I feel like we've been talking about this record for a while now.
00:11 How does it feel for the journey of this debut to to bring you here to the Mercury Prize?
00:15 Oh, it feels amazing, you know, and I think, first of all,
00:20 to be recognized for, you know, for a body of work, it's just
00:24 something that I've I've really wanted for a really long time.
00:28 And it really feels like it's happening.
00:29 It just really feels that people have taken the time to dig into this album.
00:33 And and I know that this shortlist hopefully will bring even more ears
00:37 to people who've never heard it or heard of me or whatever.
00:39 So it's just exciting.
00:42 It's growth is stepping stones, but it's also just kind of ridiculously
00:47 unexpected and
00:51 really all the positive words in the dictionary listed here.
00:55 Do you have a message for your former label?
00:57 Ha ha ha. No.
01:00 No. So, well, all of the records in the shortlist
01:05 tend to kind of say something about music, about life over the last 12 months or so.
01:08 I mean, what can you tell us about the character of this album
01:10 and what you were trying to say and what you're trying to capture?
01:12 Um, you know, I think I was a little bit worried when I put it out
01:15 that there'd be too much.
01:16 And I don't think there's like a necessarily a cohesive sound
01:21 or any sort of kind of.
01:25 Do you know what I mean? It's a little bit all over the place,
01:27 but maybe that's a little bit like what I'm like.
01:29 I think in life, there's a lot of different colors and textures
01:34 to what we we experience and what we go through.
01:36 And, you know, it's not happy all the time.
01:38 It's not sad all the time.
01:40 It's waves and stages.
01:41 And I really just try to be as honest as possible, really.
01:44 Yeah. Yeah.
01:47 And you just dropped that massive Stormzy collab.
01:49 I mean, I understand you guys have known each other for a while.
01:50 How can you tell us about what you tell us about how this song came together?
01:52 Yes.
01:54 Do you know what?
01:55 I was back in London for literally a day and I just got back from America
01:59 and the next day I was headed somewhere else.
02:01 So jet, so jet lag and Stormzy called me out of the blue and he's like,
02:05 "Rae, what are you doing?"
02:07 I was like, "I just got back to London.
02:10 I'm in the studio. Do you want to come?"
02:11 And I was like, "OK."
02:13 So I came to the studio and then we did it, you know?
02:17 Yeah. And then after we'd finished making the song, we really loved it.
02:22 Any other dream bucket list collabs you're working towards?
02:25 Quincy Jones, Hans Zimmer,
02:27 or two to name a few. Yeah.
02:32 Sweet. Yeah.
02:33 And I'm guessing your whole life's been leading up to this record,
02:35 so it feels selfish to ask.
02:37 Am I blooper reel now? Fucking hell.
02:39 Bloopers. OK, we can make an edit that we can drop in a year's time.
02:44 Don't say fuck or bugger. Right, OK. OK, here we go again.
02:46 So obviously, you've spent your whole life working towards this record.
02:49 Yeah. It feels selfish to ask.
02:50 But have you had any thoughts about the next album?
02:54 Do you know what? Not quite yet.
02:56 It's 133 shows this year.
02:57 I had no time to not be doing shows.
03:01 Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah.
03:02 So hopefully when I've got some time, I'm going to start writing again.
03:05 I miss writing. Yeah.
03:07 And do you have any advice for,
03:08 because obviously with everything you've been through in the music industry,
03:10 do you have any advice for anyone who's sort of contemplating it,
03:12 but feels it's just this like big, insurmountable beast?
03:15 Do I have any advice?
03:18 People afraid of the music industry.
03:20 I mean, it is a scary thing. I get it.
03:22 You know, I think it's really important to find people you can trust and
03:25 people who also allow you to be the artist you want to be,
03:29 which I know sounds obvious, but it's actually not.
03:31 You know, it's crazy when you're an artist, you're so vulnerable
03:33 and susceptible to every opinion that comes in.
03:36 It's going to affect
03:37 maybe even how you feel about something you once loved.
03:39 You'll be like, oh, well, so many people are saying this.
03:42 And maybe, you know what I mean?
03:43 You just got to get that noise out, trust your instincts and,
03:46 you know, keep good people around you, I'd say.
03:49 Yeah. I saw that Escapism is one of the biggest songs of last year.
03:52 Officially, numerically, statistically.
03:54 Of last year? Of this year.
03:55 Of this year? Bloody hell.
03:57 How's that feel?
03:58 Yeah, that's nuts, isn't it?
04:00 Wow. I'll take that.
04:03 How do you feel when you do a song like that and it goes on to have like a life
04:07 of its own and become this kind of runaway machine?
04:10 I mean, you know, that's kind of the goal.
04:12 My goal is before I die, I want to create things that stand the test of time
04:16 and live on maybe once I'm not here anymore.
04:18 And maybe that's the little taste of that.
04:20 I don't know. Maybe that's a bit big headed to say.
04:23 But at the end of the day, having music that people are listening to,
04:28 that's the goal, you know, and I'm just really grateful that
04:31 that's happened. Also with a song that I love so much and
04:34 didn't even intend for that to be the case of the song.
04:38 I was just trying to make something I loved and I was honest.
04:40 So I'm very, very, very grateful.
04:42 Sweet. And back to the Mercury Prize.
04:44 If you were a betting woman, who would your money be on?
04:45 Other than yourself, of course.
04:46 Oh, I would say
04:51 I feel like Fred again's album is so brilliant.
04:54 So maybe him.
05:00 I think Ezra Collective should take it.
05:03 I think they're so top tier, brilliant.
05:05 And also Olivia Deen, she ate.
05:08 And I love her. Also, Shy Girls so far.
05:13 Maybe everyone should win. And me.
05:16 And me.
05:17 Sweet. Right. Congratulations.
05:20 Thank you very much.
05:21 Thank you.
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